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nr ' 2 

WAYNE'S PEACE WITH THE 
INDIANS OF THE 
OLD NORTHWEST, 1795 



DWIGHT Ll SMITH 

Instructor, Department of History 
Ohio State University 




Reprinted by 
The Anthony Wayne Parkway Board 

From the Ohio State 
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, LIX (July 1950) 




Ohio Indian Lands Ceded to the United States 
By the Treaty of Greene Ville, 1795 




The Greene Ville cession of lands in the Old Northwest included all the 
area in the present state of Ohio south and east of the treaty line running 
from Lake Erie to the Ohio River. The Indian Lands in Ohio were further 
reduced by seven other tracts: (1) at Fort Loramie (present Fort Loramie) ; 
(2) near Girty's town (present St. Marys) ; (3) at the head of navigable 
water of the Auglaize River (about 9 miles northwest of present Wapa- 
koneta) ; (4) at Fort Defiance (present Defiance) ; (5) at the British Fort 
Miamis (present Maumee) ; (6) at the mouth of the Maumee River (present 
Toledo) ; and (7) at the lower rapids of the Sandusky River (present 
Fremont) . 



WAYNE'S PEACE WITH THE INDIANS OF THE OLD 
NORTHWEST, 1795* 

by Dwight L. Smith 
Instructor in History, Ohio State University 

Far from being the least of the many problems with which 
the United States had to contend at its beginning was the settling 
of difficulties between the Indians and whites on the frontier. If 
the new nation were to grow in size, as apparently it was doing, 
the native Indians would have to be removed, absorbed, or ex- 
tirpated, either voluntarily or by force. The decade from 1783 
to 1793 was one in which neither voluntary nor forcible means 
brought a solution. Peace emissaries and military expeditions 
alike suffered defeat, and the Indians became more and more rest- 
less and unsettled. Only after a carefully planned and executed 
campaign by General "Mad Anthony" Wayne were the Indians 
faced with no other alternative but to make peace. This was ac- 
complished by the Treaty of Greene Ville, August 3, 1795. 

When the American Revolution was officially ended with the 
exchange of treaty ratifications by the United States and Great 
Britain on May 12, 1784, the Indians had neither been consulted 
about the treaty nor mentioned in it. 1 The war was only sus- 
pended in the interior by the peace between the United States and 
Great Britain. A supplementary peace was necessary, therefore, 
to liquidate the war in the West. Congress attempted to effect a 
general settlement, and referred the problem of conciliating the 

* This is the text of a paper given at the forty-third annual meeting of the 
Mississippi Valley Historical Association, Oklahoma City, April 20-22, 1950. 

1 A British officer described the great disgust which prevailed among the In- 
dians when they learned of the proposed treaty and its boundaries. Allen Maclean 
to Frederick Haldimand (abstract), May 18, 1783, in "Calendar of Haldimand Col- 
lection," Report on Canadian Archives (37 vols., Ottawa, 1882-1929), 1886, pp. 32-33. 
The Calendar of the Haldimand Collection is in three volumes scattered through the 
Reports for the years 1884 through 1889. The abstract of the letter referred to above 
is in Volume II, which, with its own pagination, begins at the end of the Report for 
1886. 



!4 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 

Indians to a special committee for study. The committee pro- 
posed a general boundary line to follow the course of the Great 
Miami River in Ohio from its mouth to the mouth of the Mad 
River in present Dayton, thence northward to the Maumee River, 
and down that river to Lake Erie. 2 George Washington suggested 
much the same boundary plus the inclusion of the settlement 
at Detroit. 3 The report of a subsequent committee, under Thomas 
Jefferson's chairmanship, advocated a westward shift of the pro- 
posed boundary, with the meridian line "passing through the low- 
est point of the rapids of the Ohio" and extending to the northern 
boundary of the United States. Realizing that congress lacked 
the means of raising an overwhelming force needed to impose the 
general settlement envisioned by the previous committee, it was 
now advocated that separate negotiations and separate treaties be 
made with the several tribes "at different times and places." 4 

Actually the hardy frontiersmen were given free reign to 
invade the Indian country. They gave no heed to the unenforce- 
able orders of congress against the private purchase and occupa- 
tion of Indian lands. Piecemeal treaties were negotiated in hopes 
that the combined efforts would at least roughly approximate a 
settlement of the problem. 5 Peace became more, rather than less, 
tenuous as the Indians observed that the treaties were not adhered 
to by the whites. Sporadically, raids and depredations continued 
and increased on the frontier. The problem was not being solved. 
To survive, the frontiersman had to be as adept with his gun as he 
was efficient with his ax. Nor was the Indian alone responsible. 
Henry Knox asserted that "the injuries and murders have been so 
reciprocal, that it would be a point of critical investigation to 
know on which side they have been the greatest." He urged upon 

a The full committee report of October 15, 1783, is given in Worthington C. 
Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 (34 vols., 
Washington, 1904-37), XXV, 680-688. 

'Washington to James Duane, September 7, 1783, in John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., 
The Writings of George Washington (39 vols., Washington, 1931-44), XXVII, 133-140. 

*The full committee report of March 19, 1784, is given in Ford, Journals of 
the Continental Congress, XXVI, 152-155. 

"Treaties of Fort Stanwix, October 22, 1784; Fort Mcintosh, January 21, 
1785; Fort Finney, January 31, 1786; and Fort Harmar (two treaties), January 9, 
1789. 



Wayne s Peace with the Indians 



5 



Washington the definite need for something to be done and pre- 
dicted that "unless some dicisive [sic] measures are immediately 
adopted to terminate those mutual hostilities, they will probably 
become general among all the Indians northwest of the Ohio." * 

As early as July 1789 the president began to collect from all 
possible sources information relative to the situation so that he 
might be able to form a just opinion and reach some definite de- 
cisions. 7 Three months later he issued instructions to Arthur St. 
Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, to ascertain whether 
the Indians were more inclined to war or peace. If the latter, 
then steps should be taken to secure it at once. If not peace, and 
hostilities should continue against the frontiers, then "you are 
hereby authorized and empowered ... to call ... for such de- 
tachments of militia [from Pennsylvania and Virginia] as you 
may judge proper." Washington thereby committed himself to 
whatever decision St. Clair should make. Knox tempered these 
instructions by pointing out to St. Clair that a general treaty made 
with the Indians was greatly to be desired and that he should bend 
every effort towards that end. 8 

Inasmuch as the government was not yet ready or prepared 
to chastise the "renegades," St. Clair was quite willing to attempt 
a peaceful solution. He was dubious, nevertheless, as to whether 
this might be obtained at all without the display and possibly the 
use of force. 9 

In April 1790 St. Clair dispatched Antoine Gamelin, Indian 
agent, trader, and notary public at Vincennes, to the tribes and 
villages of the Wabash River and to the Miami nations residing 
on the Maumee River. He carried a message which indicated 
that the United States desired to establish a general peace with 

"Knox to Washington, June 15, 1789, in American State Papers (38 vols., 
Washington, 1832-61), Indian Affairs, I, 12-14. 

7 Tobias Lear to William Jackson, July 22, 1789, in Clarence E. Carter, comp. 
and ed., The Territorial Papers of the United States (14 vols., Washington, 1934- 

), II, The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, 1787-1803, 199. 

8 Washington to St. Clair, October 6, 1789, in American State Papers, Indian 
Affairs, I, 96-97; Knox to St. Clair, December 19, 1789, in Carter, Territorial Papers, 
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, II, 224-226. 

9 St. Clair to Knox, January 26, 1790, in William H. Smith, ed., The St. Clair 
Papers (2 vols., Cincinnati, 1882), II, 132-133. 



6 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 



all the neighboring Indians, but which at the same time firmly 
stated that they must abstain from further depredations. Gamelin 
returned from his mission without having succeeded in making 
peace. Upon receipt of this news, St. Clair decided to carry out 
offensive operations against the Indians. In this he received the 
concurrence of Knox, who felt there was no other alternative but 
"to extirpate, utterly, if possible, the said banditti." 10 

A punitive expedition was prepared for early fall by which 
the United States was to demonstrate its power by destroying the 
crops and villages of the Indians with a sudden stroke. General 
Josiah Harmar's army of militia and regulars marched in mid- 
October to the principal Indian towns on the Maumee River only 
to find them deserted. Supplies, corn fields, and five Miami vil- 
lages were destroyed. In two encounters with the Indians under 
the leadership of the Miami chief Little Turtle, however, the 
Americans were routed and driven back in disorder. 11 Encour- 
aged by this, which they interpreted from their standpoint as be- 
ing a complete failure for Harmar, the Indians became bolder. 
On January 2, 1791, a band of Shawnee massacred about half 
the inhabitants of the Big Bottom settlement, about forty miles up 
the Muskingum River from Marietta in Ohio. Rufus Putnam de- 
clared that "the Indians were much elated with their success & 
threatened there should not remain a Smoak on the ohio by the 
time the Leaves put out." 12 

A congressional appropriation and provision for an addi- 
tional force of men indicated official reaction to the Harmar de- 
feat and the Big Bottom massacre. To do what Harmar had failed 

10 For the journal of Gamelin's mission, April 5 to May 5, 1790, see American 
State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 93-94; St. Clair to Knox, August 23, 1790, ibid., I, 
92-93; circular letter, St. Clair to county lieutenants, July 15, 1790, ibid., I, 94-95; 
Knox to Harmar, June 7, 1790, and August 24, 1790, ibid., I, 97-98, 99. 

11 Harmar to Matthew Ernest, commanding at Fort Pitt, August 13, 1790, in 
[William H. Denny, ed.], Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny (Philadelphia, 
1859), 254-255. A day by day description of the expedition is given ibid., 140-149. 
Denny was Harmar's aide. See also Knox to St. Clair, September 14, 1790, in Smith, 
St. Clair Papers, II, 181-183. Harmar's journal, Captain John Armstrong's journal, 
and other accounts are reproduced in Basil Meek, "General Harmar's Expedition," 
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, XX (1911), 74-108. 

12 Rowena Buell, comp. and ed., The Memoirs of Rufus Putnam and Certain 
Official Papers and Correspondence (Boston and New York, 1903), 112, 113. 



Wayne s Peace with the Indians 



7 



to do became the task assigned to St. Clair. 13 As a final attempt 
at peace, congress commissioned Colonel Thomas Proctor to the 
Wabash and Maumee regions. Cornplanter and some of his fel- 
low Seneca tribesmen, who were convinced that the United States 
wanted only peace, were also engaged "to undertake to impress 
the hostile Indians with the consequences of their persisting in 
hostilities, and also of the justice and moderation of the United 
States." Proctor's mission came to naught, because the Indians 
refused to have anything to do with the peace plans. A letter 
from St. Clair to the Iroquois, which urged them to take up arms 
against the western tribes, on the one hand and Proctor's mission 
on the other, merely led to confusion and unbelief in their minds. 14 
As a preliminary action, St. Clair sent General Charles Scott 
on an expedition against the Wea on the Wabash River. This and 
a second expedition to the same region under General James Wil- 
kinson accomplished little but the burning of some deserted vil- 
lages and corn fields and the taking of a few prisoners. They did 
make the Indians more unitedly determined against the encroach- 
ments on their rights and lands. Peace had not been brought to 
the frontier. 15 The projected expedition under St. Clair would 
accomplish the desired end, so it was hoped. Jefferson epito- 
mized this feeling when he said, "I hope we shall give the Indians 
a thorough drubbing this summer." 16 At sunrise on November 
4, 1791, a "drubbing" was given, not by the whites, but by the 
Indians to St. Clair's army. They inflicted a slaughter and defeat 
that has often been compared to General Edward Braddock's de- 
feat of 1755. 1T 



"Ibid., 112-113; "An Act for Raising and Adding Another Regiment to the 
Military Establishment of the United States, and for Making Further Provisions for 
the Protection of the Frontiers," March 3, 1791, U. S. Statutes at Large, I, 222-224. 

14 Proctor's journal, March 11 to May 21, 1791, in American State Papers, In- 
dian Affairs, I, 149-165; speeches between Washington and Cornplanter, December 

1790, ibid., 145-146. 

16 Knox to Scott, March 9, 1791, ibid., I, 129-130; Scott to Knox, June 28, 

1791, ibid., I, 131-133; St. Clair to Wilkinson, July 31, 1791, ibid., II, 227-229; Wil- 
kinson to St. Clair, August 24, 1791, ibid., I, 133-135. 

"Jefferson to Washington, April 17, 1791, in Paul L. Ford, ed., The Writings 
of Thomas Jefferson (10 vols., New York, 1892-99), V, 320-322. 

"See "Winthrop Sargent's Diary While with General Arthur St. Clair's Ex- 
pedition Against the Indians," Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, 



8 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 

The two years following St. Clair's defeat, 1792-94, were 
years of negotiations from which peace failed to materialize. 
Several attempts were made, with some of the American agents 
being murdered and some being turned away. One emissary, 
Rufus Putnam, succeeded in negotiating a treaty of peace and 
friendship with the Wabash and Illinois tribes. The senate re- 
fused to give its ratification to the document, however, because 
there was lacking in it a statement that would recognize the exclu- 
sive right of the United States to the preemption of the Indian 
lands. 18 Much more so than any of the previous efforts, a pro- 
jected general council of the Indians for the summer of 1793, to 
which the United States had been invited, promised success. Ben- 
jamin Lincoln, Beverly Randolph, and Timothy Pickering were 
appointed commissioners, and careful plans and instructions were 
made to insure the desired outcome. An understanding was not 
reached, because the Indians demanded the Ohio River as their 
southern boundary as the sine qua non of any treaty of peace. 19 

In the meantime the Americans were well aware of the situ- 
ation and were amply preparing so that another defeat such as 
St. Clair's in 1791 would not occur again. Immediately upon the 
breakdown of the negotiations of 1793 the three commissioners 
notified commanding and responsible officers on the frontier that 
"the Indians have refused to make peace." Anthony Wayne, who 
had succeeded St. Clair to the military command, was warned that 
"a defeat at the present time, and under present circumstances, 
would be pernicious in the highest degree to the interests of our 
country." Since the autumn months of 1792, Wayne had been 

XXXIII (1924), 237-273; Denny, Military Journal; "Captain Newman's Original 
Journal of St. Clair's Campaign," Wisconsin Magazine of History, II (1918), 44-73; 
Frazer E. Wilson, ed., Journal of Capt. Daniel Bradley, An Epic of the Ohio Fron- 
tier (Greenville, Ohio, 1935), 9-34. 

18 Treaty of September 27, 1792, in Buell, Memoirs of Rufus Putnam, 363-366; 
Knox to Putnam, February 11, 1793, ibid., 377; Journal of the Executive Proceedings 
of the Senate of the United States of America, 1-20 cong. (3 vols., Washington, 
1828), I, 128, 134-135, 144-146. 

"Knox to Lincoln, Randolph, and Pickering, April 26, 1793, in American 
State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 340-342; journal of Lincoln, Randolph, and Picker- 
ing, Hid., I, 342-360. 



Wayne s Peace with the Indians 



9 



organizing and drilling his forces in adequate preparation for a 
decisive victory over the Indians. 20 

The impetuousness and impatience of the Indians led them 
to attempt a decisive action before they were properly mobilized 
and organized for action. On the morning of June 30, 1794, a 
large force of about two thousand Indians attacked a train of 
packhorses that on the day before had delivered flour to Fort Re- 
covery from headquarters at Camp Greene Ville. This was fol- 
lowed by "a general assault" on the fort itself. Lack of morale, 
organization, and proper leadership brought about a partial dis- 
integration of the Indian forces. "I must observe with grief," 
wrote a British officer in his diary, "that the Indians had never 
[had] it in their power to do more — and have done so little." 21 

The Indians gradually reassembled, after judicious encour- 
agement from the British, in anticipation of what they believed 
would mean the defeat of Wayne. As late as mid-August, Wayne 
was still willing to negotiate with the Indians and sent a message 
inviting them to meet with him. "This last overture of Peace" 
was rejected and Wayne marched forward once more. 22 On the 
morning of August 20, 1794, the American forces met the Indians 
in a field of fallen timber, apparently selected by the latter be- 
cause of the cover it afforded them and because of the proximity 
of the British Fort Miamis, from which they received more than 
moral support. As the tide of battle turned against them, how- 
ever, the Indians discovered a miscalculation in their hopes. The 
fort was not to be permitted to them as a haven of refuge. In 

20 Lincoln, Randolph, and Pickering to Knox, August 21, 1793, ibid., I, 359- 
360; letters to frontier officers, ibid., I, 357-359; Knox to Wayne, September 3, 1793, 
in [Isaac Wayne], "Biography of General Wayne," The Casket, V (1830), 113; Wil- 
son, Journal of Capt. Daniel Bradley, 51ff. The Casket is one of the titles of the 
publication better known as Graham's Magazine. 

21 Wayne to Knox, July 7, 1794, in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 
487-488; "Diary of an Officer in the Indian Country," June 14 to July 2, 1794, in 
Ernest A. Cruikshank, ed., The Correspondence of Lieut. Governor John Graves 
Simcoe (5 vols., Toronto, 1923-31), V, 90-94. 

22 Alexander McKee to Governor Simcoe, July 26, 1794, in Cruikshank, Simcoe 
Correspondence, II, 344-345; Wayne to the Indians, August 13, 1794, ibid., II, 371-372. 
See also ibid., II, 373-374, 379-380. 



10 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 

about two hours Wayne had crushed and routed the enemy to such 
an extent that they were completely demoralized. 23 

Wayne exercised great restraint as he approached the British 
Fort Miamis, for he had authority to take it if he chose. "If . . . 
in the course of your operations against the Indian enemy, it 
should become necessary to dislodge the party at the rapids of the 
Miami," wrote Knox in April 1794, "you are hereby authorized, 
in the name of the President of the United States, to do it." Major 
William Campbell, the British commander, and Wayne resorted 
to an exchange of notes, which, though couched in the strongest 
terms, failed to produce any dire results. 24 After destroying all 
the surrounding fields and villages of the Indians, and posts and 
property of British traders, the American forces marched back to 
Fort Defiance at the mouth of the Auglaize River, cutting a wide 
path of destruction on either side of the Maumee River while en 
route. 25 Before moving farther, Wayne renewed his offer to ne- 
gotiate a peace, but with no results. 26 He then moved up the 
Maumee River to the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Marys 
rivers, where he erected Fort Wayne. Late in October he returned 
to Greene Ville and prepared it for his winter quarters. 27 

For a while after Fallen Timbers there was some reason to 
believe that the Indians might collect their wits sufficiently to con- 
front Wayne with a more formidable opposition than they had 
offered him on August 20. John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant gov- 
ernor of Upper Canada, called them together in council at Browns- 
town, a Wyandot village at the mouth of the Huron River in 
Michigan, hoping to recoup the British losses in prestige with the 
Indians and to regain their support. The closed gates of Fort 
Miamis had done something which Simcoe could not undo. The 

23 "Daily Journal of Wayne's Campaign, from July 28th to November 2d, 1794, 
Including an Account of the Memorable Battle of 20th August," American Pioneer, 
I (1842), 315-322, 351-357. 

84 Knox to Wayne, [April] 1794, in Wayne, loc. cit., 115; notes exchanged 
between Wayne and Campbell, in Cruikshank, Simcoe Correspondence, II, 405-408. 

25 Wayne to Knox, August 28, 1794, in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, 

I, 491. 

26 Wayne to the Indians, September 12, 1794, in Cruikshank, Simcoe Corre- 
spondence, III, 79-80. 

27 Wilson, Journal of Capt. Daniel Bradley. 



Wayne's Peace with the Indians 



11 



Indians were "very low spirited and disheartened" and began to 
feel that what looked to them as the inevitable loss of their land 
was due to the interference of the British. 28 This discontent was 
to be of value to Wayne in his establishment of a peace with them. 

Wayne was now in the position to effect what his predecessors 
had failed to accomplish. Assuredly his superiority of force 
would permit him to dictate any terms he liked, but such terms 
would be honored only so long as this superiority was present in 
the Indian country. Nine months elapsed, however, from the 
initial request for peace by the Indians before the signing of the 
treaty. The Indians acquiesced only after they were fully satis- 
fied in their minds with the stipulations and provisions of the 
agreement. 

As early as November 3, 1794, the Indians began to make 
known their desires that a peace be effected. On that day a Wyan- 
dot delegation told Wayne: "We . . . now wish for peace, and 
are determined to bury the hatchet and scalping knife deep in the 
ground." Wayne complimented them on their peace overtures 
and proposed the Treaty of Fort Harmar of 1789 "as a prelim- 
inary or foundation, upon which a permanent and lasting peace 
shall be established." 29 The efforts of Simcoe and other British 
officials perturbed him. That they were preventing most of the 
Indians from coming to him, he was certain. That the Indians 
were exercising duplicity between Simcoe and himself, he be- 
lieved. By mid-December, however, Wayne reported to the sec- 
retary of war that he had "succeeded in dividing and distracting 
the counsels of the hostile Indians," so that he hoped "eventually 
to [be able to] bring about a general peace, or to compel the re- 



28 William Chew to Joseph Chew (extract), October 24, 1794, in "Canadian 
Archives, Indian Affairs," Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, Historical Col- 
lections, XX (1892), 380; Joseph Brant to Joseph Chew (extract), October 22, 1794, 
ibid., XX, 379-380; council proceedings, in "Canadian Archives, Colonial Office Rec- 
ords," ibid., XXV (1896), 40-46. 

29 Speech of a Wyandot chief to Wayne, November 3, 1794, in American State 
Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 527; speech of Wayne to the Wyandot, November 4, 1794, 
ibid., I, 528; Wayne to , November 5, 1794, ibid., I, 549. 



12 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 



fractory to pass the Mississippi, and to the northwest side of the 
lakes." 30 

During the winter months, Indian deputations continued to 
appear at Greene Ville bearing "white flags" and willing to bury 
their tomahawks and to make peace. 31 These Indian movements 
were viewed with misgivings by the British. "By reports from all 
Quarters," wrote the commanding officer at Detroit, "I am appre- 
hensive that the Indians have serious intentions of making peace 
. . . with the United States." 32 

Indeed, in the first two months of 1795 the American com- 
mander and the chiefs of the various tribes entered into prelim- 
inary articles calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and 
a mutual restoration of prisoners. Most important, however, was 
the fact that June 15 of the same year was set as a date for the 
beginning of a conference for the purpose of drawing up a peace 
treaty. 33 Soon after this welcome news reached Philadelphia, the 
secretary of war instructed St. Clair to relax the American vigil- 
ance and defense on the frontier by dispensing with most of the 
militia. In the meantime, more Indians continued to make their 
way to Greene Ville to let it be known that they too were in favor 
of an established peace. 3 * 



30 Intelligence report to Wayne, November 10, 1794, ibid., I, 529; Wayne to 
Knox, November 12, 1794, ibid., I, 526-527; Wayne to Knox (extract), December 23, 
1794, ibid., 547-548. 

81 Entries for November 5 and December, 1794, in Journal, Thomas Taylor 
Underwood, March 26, 1792 to March 18, 1800, An Old Soldier in Wayne's Army 
(Cincinnati, 1945), 20; Colonel John F. Hamtramck, commanding, to Wayne, Fort 
Wayne, December 29, 1794, in John W. Van Cleve, "Letters of Colonel Hamtramck," 
American Pioneer, II (1843), 389; speech sent by Wayne to Indians of the San- 
dusky region, January 1, 1795, in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 560; 
McKee to England, January 27, 1795, in Cruikshank, Simcoe Correspondence, III, 
276. 

82 Richard England to McKee, January 30, 1795, in Cruikshank, Simcoe Cor- 
respondence, III, 279-280. 

88 Preliminary articles of a treaty of peace, Wayne with the Delaware, Miami, 
and Shawnee, February 11, 1795, in "Canadian Archives, Indian Affairs," Michigan 
Pioneer and Historical Society, Historical Collections, XX, 393-394; preliminary ar- 
ticles with the Chippewa, Miami, Potawatomi, and Sauk, no date, in American State 
Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 559-560; entry for January 10, 1795, in Underwood Jour- 
nal, 20; Timothy Pickering to Bartholomew Dandridge, February 28, 1795, in Carter, 
Territorial Papers, The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, II, 507. 

84 Pickering to St. Clair, March 25, 1795, in Smith, St. Clair Papers, II, 338- 
339; St. Clair to Colonel Sproat, April 21, 1795, ibid., II, 340; Wayne's proclamation 
of February 22, 1795, ibid., II, 343-344, note; Hamtramck to Wayne (extract), March 



Wayne's Peace with the Indians 



13 



It would seem as though the peoples of the frontier would 
have been grateful for the success of Fallen Timbers and would 
have been most ready to do their part to assure a peaceful settle- 
ment with the Indians. It was, however, the painful task of Knox to 
report to the president that "the desires of too many frontier white 
people, to seize, by force or fraud, upon the neighboring Indian 
lands, has been and still continues to be, an unceasing cause of 
jealousy and hatred on the part of the Indians." He was appre- 
hensive as to the probability of quieting the Indians until the 
frontiersmen would cease their conduct. "The encroachment of 
white people," he continued, "is incessantly watched ... by the 
Indians." As late as a few days before the scheduled council 
opening, Wayne complained to St. Clair of "certain evildisposed 
people in the State of Kentucky [who] are determined to prevent 
an amicable treaty from taking place." Unless effective measures 
were adopted to prevent "predatory parties" from crossing the 
Ohio River from Kentucky, not only would lives and property in 
the Northwest Territory be in danger, but, he feared, peace "will 
not only be retarded, but eventually frustrated." 35 

As early as April 1794 Knox had sent instructions to Wayne 
regarding a treaty to be made with the Indians when the occasion 
permitted. For those tribes not parties to the Treaty of Fort Har- 
mar, the Treaty of Fort Mcintosh (1785) or the Treaty of Fort 
Finney (1786) would form the basis. It was highly important at 
the outset that Wayne "ascertain . . . what tribes are the allowed 
proprietors of the Country" between the Ohio River and the Great 
Lakes. The conditions set forth in these instructions were essen- 
tially the same as those embodied in the subsequent treaty. 86 

Timothy Pickering, who had succeeded Knox as secretary of 



5, 1795, in Charles E. Slocum, The Ohio Country Between the Years 1783 and 1815 
(New York, 1910), 135-136; Hamtramck to Wayne, June 17, 1795, in Van Cleve, 
loc. cit., 392. 

85 Report respecting United States frontiers, Knox to Washington, December 
29, 1794, in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 543-544; Wayne to St. Clair, 
June 5, 1795, in Smith, St. Clair Papers, II, 374-375. 

86 Knox to Wayne, April 4, 1794, in the Northwest Territory Collection in the 
William Henry Smith Memorial Library of the Indiana Historical Society, Indianap- 
olis, Indiana. 



14 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 



war, issued instructions to Wayne in April 1795. These, with 
few exceptions, were substantially the same as those of Knox. 
Pickering directed that, in addition to the main cession, pieces of 
land for military posts be obtained "which you may judge neces- 
sary to have established to preserve or complete a chain of com- 
munications" over the length of the Great Miami, Wabash, and 
Maumee rivers. It would also be desirable to obtain lands on 
which trading posts were located or on which they could advan- 
tageously be established. 37 In these instructions and in the draft 
of a treaty that he had drawn up, Pickering also proposed a 
boundary line, a line from which there was some deviation in the 
final treaty. From a fork of a tributary of the Great Miami River 
near the site of Loramie's store, the line was to run down that 
stream to the Great Miami River, and thence down that river to 
the Ohio River. 38 

On June 16, 1795, the Delaware, Eel River, Ottawa, and 
Potawatomi tribes, who had arrived at Greene Ville within the fort- 
night, met with Wayne. The council fire was kindled and the 
calumet or ceremonial peace pipe was leisurely smoked. After a 
speech of welcome by the American commander and an appropri- 
ate response by one of the Indian chiefs, wampum, presents, and 
drink were "judiciously" distributed. As other delegations and 
tribes arrived, a similar pattern of welcome was carried out. It 
was important to the business at hand that the Indians be made to 
feel welcome and at ease. Camp rules and procedures were ex- 
plained so they would not become alarmed at such military pro- 
cedure as reveille, retreat, the fourth of July celebration, and 
various types of formations. 39 

In the guise of a sermon, on July 5, the Rev. Morgan J. Rhees, 

87 Pickering to Wayne, April 8 and 14, 1795, in Northwest Territory Collection. 

38 Ibid.; draft of the proposed treaty in Northwest Territory Collection; Pick- 
ering to Dandridge (abstract), April 13, 1795, in Historical Index to the Pickering 
Papers (Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 6th Ser., VIII, Boston, 1896), 
111. 

89 Minutes of the Treaty of Greene Ville, June 16 to August 10, 1795, by H. 
DeButts, secretary, September 20, 1795, in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 
564-583. See entries for June 16, 17, 21, 23, 25, 26, July 3, 4, and 13, 1795. Dele- 
gations continued to arrive even after the treaty had been voted upon on July 30. 
See entries for July 31 and August 3, 1795. 



Wayne 9 s Peace with the Indians 



15 



the army chaplain, gave Wayne and his men some sound advice. 
His text was taken from the Book of Judges. Gideon, "a Noble 
Example for all Generals and Commanders of armies," had not the 
"devastation and plunder" of his enemies as his object, but rather 
the defense of the lives, liberty, and property of his brethren. 
When this was accomplished, he sheathed his sword. Rhees dis- 
played more than a common knowledge of the workings of prac- 
tical diplomacy. "In order to establish a durable peace," he ex- 
horted, "some sacrifices must be made on both sides." Here was 
something for Wayne to think about. One further stipulation was 
made by the minister which undoubtedly would have changed not 
only the present negotiations, but also the negotiations of most of 
the treaties subsequently made with the Indians. "Dissimula- 
lation and intrigue, with every species of deceptive speculation 
and fraudulent practice, ought to be sacrificed on the altars of 
strict honor and inflexible justice." 40 

After a delay of several days, to await the arrival of some 
groups known to be on their way to the treaty council at Greene 
Ville, it was decided to postpone negotiations no longer. On July 
15, Wayne, in a speech to the assembled council, told the Indians 
that the Treaty of Fort Harmar was to be the basis of the negotia- 
tions. For the next week the Indians accomplished little except 
to carry on rather futile discussions and to tender unacceptable 
excuses for the invalidity of that treaty. 41 

The upper hand in negotiations was gained by Wayne on 
July 24. In his carefully prepared and delivered speech before 
the council, he reviewed the treaty of peace of 1783 by which the 
British had surrendered the territory south of the Great Lakes to 
the United States. Then he read the first two articles of Jay's 
Treaty, signed on November 19, 1794, calling for peace and 
friendship between the two countries and for an evacuation of all 
the British troops and garrisons within the boundaries of the 

'"Morgan J. Rhees, The Altar of Peace, Being a Substance of a Discourse 
Delivered in the Council House, at Greenville, July 5, 1795 (Philadelphia, 1798), 
5, 9. 

41 Entries for July 9, 15, 18, 20, 21, and 22, 1795, in Minutes of the Treaty of 
Greene Ville, in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 566, 567-568, 569-571. 



16 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 



Northwest Territory before June 1, 1796. 42 Whatever had been 
the actual or potential aid of the British in the Northwest, it was 
now greatly diminished. Wayne further refuted arguments the 
Indians had presented of their ignorance of the Fort Harmar 
treaty. Negotiations entered a new phase, that of consideration 
of the tentative provisions of the treaty. "I will order you a 
double allowance of drink; because," Wayne asserted, "we have 
now buried the hatchet, and performed every necessary ceremony, 
to render propitious our renovated friendship." 43 

After less than a week of reading, explaining, and discuss- 
ing the proposed articles, they were voted upon and accepted 
unanimously. It is well to note, however, the statement made by 
one of the Potawatomi chiefs in council. "You know we have all 
buried the hatchet, together with our bad actions," he declared. 
"You may depend on our sincerity. We cannot but be sincere, as 
your forts will be planted thick among us." 44 

Aside from some discussion of the cession of areas for posts 
and garrisons, the only important question of boundary was that 
involving the line from Fort Recovery to a point on the Ohio River 
opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River. Little Turtle, the chief 
spokesman, suggested that the road from Fort Recovery to Fort 
Hamilton and the Great Miami River be used as the boundary. 
He was convinced by Wayne, however, that because of the indef- 
initeness of the road, this line would "certainly be productive of 
unpleasant mistakes and differences." 45 

Objection was also made respecting the tract at the Wabash 
terminal of the portage connecting the Maumee and Wabash riv- 
ers. The Miami were afraid they would lose the rather profitable 
income derived from the traffic over this portage. "Let us both 



"Treaty of peace of 1783, in Hunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other Interna- 
tional Acts of the United States of America (7 vols., Washington, 1931- ), II, 151- 
157, especially Article 2; Jay's Treaty, ibid., II, 245-274, especially Articles 1 and 2. 

48 Entry for July 24, 1795, in Minutes of the Treaty of Greene Ville, in 
American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 573-574. 

u Entries for July 27, 28, and 30, 1795, ibid., I, 574-578; draft of Pickering's 
proposed treaty, in Northwest Territory Collection. 

46 Entries for July 29 and 30, 1795, in Minutes of the Treaty of Greene Ville, 
in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 575-578. 



Wayne's Peace with the Indians 



17 



own this place," it was suggested by Little Turtle, "and enjoy in 
common the advantages it affords." This was countered by 
Wayne, who pointed out to them that the traders merely added 
the Miami toll and carrying charges to the prices the Indians paid 
them for their goods. He told them that the United States was its 
own carrier and that the annuity allocated to the Miami would 
repay them many times for any losses they might sustain from 
losing the tract. 46 

The Treaty of Greene Ville, between the tribes of the Old 
Northwest and the United States, was signed on August 3, 1795.* 7 
Its significance to most of the 1,130 Indians present was epito- 
mized in the remarks made by a Wyandot chief before the assem- 
bled council. Heretofore, the "Fifteen Fires" had been addressed 
as "Brother," but, he said, "we do now, and will henceforth, ac- 
knowledge the fifteen United States ... to be our father ... [we] 
must call them brothers no more." Equal to the occasion, Wayne 
replied, "I now adopt you all, in the name of the President and 
Fifteen great Fires of America, as their children, and you are so 
accordingly." 48 

By the "Peace of Mad Anthony," as it is sometimes called, 
the Indians surrendered the northeastern part and the southern 
half of Ohio. In this respect the treaty did not accomplish the 

46 Ibid. 

47 Entry for August 3, 1795, ibid., I, 579; Treaty of Greene Ville, August 3, 1795, 
manuscript (photostat), in the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society 
Library, Columbus; Wayne to Pickering (extract), August 9, 1795, in American 
State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 564. 

The tribes that signed the treaty were the Chippewa, Delaware, Eel River, 
Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Miami, Ottawa, Piankashaw, Potawatomi, Shawnee, Wea, and 
Wyandot. 

43 Enumeration of the tribes and numbers of Indians present at the negotia- 
tions, August 7, 1795, in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 582; entry for 
August 7, 1795, in Minutes of the Treaty of Greene Ville, ibid, I, 579-580. See also 
a speech by Joseph Brant, a half-breed Indian leader present at the signing, made 
in later life, in William L. Stone, Life of Joseph Brant-Thayendanegea (2 vols., 
Cooperstown, 1844), II, 395. See also England to Simcoe, Detroit, August 20, 1795, 
in Cruikshank, Simcoe Correspondence, IV, 71-72. This letter gives an opposite pic- 
ture of the negotiations. Just how much credence can be placed in it is impossible 
to determine. Quite probably, however, it contains an element of truth. 

Trading interests present at the negotiations in one role or another, were not 
successful in having the treaty altered to their private benefits. This factor led to 
unfavorable reports. For example, see John Askin to John Askin, Jr., July 5, 1795, 
in Mary A. Burton, ed., Manuscripts from the Burton Historical Collection (Detroit, 
1918), 31-32; and John Askin, Jr., to England, August 19, 1795, ibid., 34-37. 



18 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 



goals set by the two committees of the congress a little over a dec- 
ade before. One had asked for all but a narrow strip of western 
Ohio, while the other had called for all of Ohio and approximately 
the eastern half of Indiana and Michigan as well. 48 

Beyond the committee recommendations, however, much 
more was accomplished in a more important respect. In addition 
to the general cession of land, sixteen tracts comprising all the 
principal portages, heads of navigable streams, and trading posts 
were ceded, embracing, among others, the sites of present-day 
Loramie, Defiance, Fremont, and Toledo in Ohio, Fort Wayne in 
Indiana, Detroit in Michigan, and Peoria and Chicago in Illinois. 50 
Besides, the people of the United States were to be permitted free- 
dom of passage through the Indian country along the principal 
rivers and their connecting portages and over the road from San- 
dusky to Detroit via Fort Miamis. Also, the use of mouths of 
rivers and of harbors along lakes adjoining Indian lands was 
granted the Americans for purposes of shelter and safety. 61 

The United States relinquished claims to all other Indian 
lands north and west of the Ohio River with four important ex- 
ceptions: Clark's Grant of 150,000 acres near the rapids of the 
Ohio River; Vincennes and adjacent lands to which the Indian 
title had previously been surrendered; all other lands "in posses- 
sion of the French people & other white Settlers Among them, of 
which the Indian title has been extinguished"; and Fort Massac 
on the Ohio River in Illinois, not far from a point opposite the 
mouth of the Tennessee River. 52 

The United States was now virtually in control of the entire 
Old Northwest. The Treaty of Greene Ville liquidated the war 

40 Article 3, Treaty of Greene Ville, manuscript ; Homer C. Hockett, The Ex- 
tinction of the Indian Title in Ohio Beyond the Greeneville Line (unpublished manu- 
script loaned by the author). This boundary line is shown in Charles C. Royce, 
comp., Indian Land Cessions in the United States (Bureau of American Ethnology, 
Eighteenth Annual Report, Part 2, Washington, 1899), plates CXXVI and CLVI. 

50 Article 3, Treaty of Greene Ville, manuscript. The approximate locations 
of these cessions are shown in Royce, Indian Land Cessions, plates CXXIV-CXXVII, 
CXXXVI, CXXXVIII, CLVI-CLVII. 

51 Article 3, Treaty of Greene Ville, manuscript. 

52 Article 4, ibid. These exceptions, other than the third which was never 
more specifically defined, are shown in Royce, Indian Land Cessions, plates CXXIV 
and CXXVI. 



Wayne's Peace with the Indians 



19 



and accomplished the peace between the Indians and the United 
States. These matters had been omitted in the 1783 settle- 
ment of the United States and Great Britain, and only after a 
dozen years of almost chronic failure was the new nation able to 
assert itself and to deal with the Indians in an adequate manner. 

The Treaty of Greene Ville disintegrated Indian unity, 
opened most of Ohio for settlement, and became the first of a se- 
ries of cessions that extinguished the Indian title to the greater 
part of the Northwest Territory. This was indeed necessary to 
bring about any satisfactory settlement of the land question be- 
tween the native inhabitants and the Americans who were literally 
beginning to crowd them out. The American government could 
now safely survey and open much new territory for settlement by 
its pioneers and at the same time make substantial advances by 
additional treaties. The United States had the upper hand by 
virtue of superiority of military force, demonstrated at Fallen 
Timbers, and of written commitments in the Greene Ville docu- 
ment. Though not unopposed, it continued to hold its dominant 
position until the Indian had been replaced by the white man 
throughout the Northwest Territory. 



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